Chancellor’s visit marks new milestone for Henley Business School Africa

Graduation week at Henley Business School Africa is always a joyous and riotous affair as friends and family turn out in their numbers to celebrate – with song and dance if necessary – the achievements of graduates across Henley’s academic programmes.

‘This is a special day where we honour and celebrate the sons and daughters of this land who have stood up to be counted, made their presence felt and cemented their place among the elite,’ spoke the praise singers at the start of each ceremony.

This year, the celebrations took on an added layer of significance as the Chancellor of the University of Reading in the UK, Henley’s parent institution, made the journey for the first time in Henley 30-year history in Africa to preside over the occasion; a mark of the school’s increasing stature both in South Africa and globally.

Chancellor Paul Lindley, OBE, together with Henley’s Global Dean Professor Elena Beleska-Spasova, capped more than 1,000 students that crossed the stage over an intense three days of festivities.

Henley Business School is one of the oldest business schools in Europe with a 78-year track record. In addition to its African campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town, it has campuses in the UK, Europe and Asia. While the school has been active across Africa for more than 30 years it has grown dramatically over the past decade from a full-time staff of just five to over 110. In 2011, Henley Africa offered a single academic qualification, the MBA, and graduated just 30 people. Today, the business school offers a well-articulated pathway of management development programmes from undergraduate through to the MBA graduating more than 2,000 students a year over two graduation ceremonies – one in the middle of the year and the Year-End graduation.

Speaking at the culmination of its latest graduation celebrations, Jon Foster-Pedley, dean and director of the business school, said that each graduation is emotional because it showcases the spirit of South Africans, who are hungry to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others.

‘Our students come to us because they are inspired – as we are – to build the Africa and a world that we want,’ he said.

Foster-Pedley continues that very often the people crossing the stage never believed they could do it. ‘They’ve been told they are too old, or don’t have the right qualifications, or are not smart enough, or they don’t have enough money. The reasons not to get an education are many, but at Henley we are in the business of rewriting those stories.

‘I’ve seen thousands of people who thought they couldn’t do it triumph. And this is the magic that is Henley, we work with people, meeting them where they are at and then giving them the skills, confidence and networks they need to raise themselves higher and to achieve an international standard of excellence.

‘Witnessing the amazing energy and transformation of our graduates never gets old.’

Chancellor Lindley agrees that in South Africa he’s seen how education has become a catalyst for innovation, resilience and the building of prosperous futures.

‘At these graduations we celebrate that power embodied in each of you,’ he told graduates.

‘Today we celebrate and recognise a new milestone and that milestone is you! Built from your talent, your grit and your determination to succeed.’

Lindley said that the graduates all now join the global Henley network of more than 100,000 people across the world, ‘a community to support, challenge and inspire you in the years to come’.

‘With campuses, offices and partnerships around the world, Henley’s scope is truly global,’ said Prof Beleska-Spasova in her address to graduates. ‘Indeed this fantastic institution is proof of the power of global connectivity. We are an international community that bridges cultures, continents and perspective as we bring together students and faculty from around the world.’

Both Chancellor Lindley and Prof Beleska-Spasova emphasised that the graduates carried with them a responsibility to address key challenges in an increasingly uncertain and unsettling world.

‘You each have a responsibility to use your skills and your learning and your passion to face the world’s challenge and make an impact,’ said Prof Beleska-Spasova. ‘At times like these we need strong, brave people and businesses with heart to create growth, jobs and prosperity, and who look for ways to lift others up.’

‘To be a successful leader you need compassion, creativity and courage,’ said Lindley. ‘Compassion to understand people and know that your success works best if you make it other people’s success. Creativity because it is the key to making change as business graduates. You can take your understanding or people and institutions and get to work building success for others, build to innovate, to create jobs, to challenge the status quo and to drive change.

‘Finally, courage is needed to give you the energy to keep going as you encounter inevitable challenges,’ he said. ‘Stay bold, stay open-minded, and be ready to adapt as the world around you changes.’

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